There is a really interesting division in Punisher readers in the Boston area.  Customers in the city stores of the chain I work at are huge fans of the Ennis Punisher.  They complain about why he doesn’t work when combined with the other heroes of the Marvel U.  And they stay away from War Journal, and any series where he might run into Wolverine or Spiderman.  I sort of get that.

Our suburban store customers hate Garth Ennis.  “He was clearly beaten up in high school, and never got laid.”  I have heard from several of them.    “He’s always getting laid, and brooding…”  and they go on to point out things that I never noticed while reading the Ennis run.  So, to me, Ennis’s Punisher was never superfulously Alpha Male.  You know, apart from the blowing the fuck out of everyone with really big guns.  but I get their point, too.

I love both versions of The Punisher.  War Zone was a great, rollicking trip, back to Gnucciland, and I had a great time.  I’m way behind on my War Journal, btu I like what I’ve read of it so far.  And the Max series has been better than your average marvel comic, these days.

So is this Dark Reign Punisher.

I liked how issue one started out with action, and didn’t let up the whole time.  Plus, I would love for Castle to take out either Osborn or The Sentry.  I’m tired of reading about both of them.

Issue two was more about planning the methodical takedown of Osborn’s current hero image.  And I really like the direction it’s going in.